A Writer's Biography
(This is me, with my horse Cash. Photo by Mary Perry, who did an amazing session with Cash in July 2012. )
I was born in Greenville, PA in 1955. I started writing early, scrounging unused diaries and notebooks and writing “books” in them. Illustrated too, because I was drawing even before I was writing.
In the late 1970s, inspired by a couple of wretchedly cold winters in western Pennsylvania, I set out to write fantasy short story in a “Write Your Own Book” I had been given, which had a knight on horseback on its cover. It still does, and it’s still empty because by the time I had finished outlining I could see there was no way The Ring of Allaire was going to fit in there. My novel about a wizard’s first quest was published in 1981. I like to say that my wizard is just like Harry Potter—but Tristan was home-schooled.) I have recently reworked and expanded this trilogy, once known as “The Winter King’s War” into “Wizard’s Destiny”.
The first thing Tristan quested for was the immortal, ageless, magical warhorse Valadan. And since I had dropped some good hints about Valadan’s legendary past, I had a lot to live up to--or some interesting problems to solve making the next books agree with the backstory, as I began to tell of Valadan’s pre-Tristan adventures. And thus came about The Prince of Ill Luck, The Wind-Witch, The True Knight and The Wandering Duke, the rest of “The Warhorse of Esdragon”.
I was invited to pitch a mid-grade book, but the time “wasn’t right for a fantasy mid-grade”, so “Moonshine” became Moonlight, my POD set in Tristan’s early years. My novella Thistledown appeared in Del Rey’s invitational anthology Once Upon A Time, I sold “Herding Instinct” to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and “Where Bestowed” to the Excalibur anthology, and “Butternut Ale”, “Crawls” and “Tasks” to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy—and most of this time, I was working in advertising full time, for a regional discount department store. Now I work full time for a Catholic parish, doing the books and the weekly bulletin. And though it keeps shifting shape, I’m still working on a novel of Arthur, though I don’t style him a king. In 2011, I started exploring e-books, and have several available on both Kindle and Nook. When I expanded into CreateSpace with the Wizard's Destiny trilogy, I discovered that my writers support group and neighborhood contained an amazing book cover designer--Teddi Black. She took my pastel cover paintings and made them the covers of my dreams! tdblack.weebly.com.
Way back, I thought of writing a fantasy as a way to break into illustration. (So I had tons of great reference for my eventual cover paintings!) I did get a couple of things into Niekas and lots to Fantasy Newsletter, and I did maps for all my books—but at the same time I kept up with Fine Art and Fine Craft. I paint with pastels and I weave and hand-spin. My educational background’s in Commercial Art, the fiber arts were learned as I went along.. I have exhibited at the Trumbull Art Guild (Warren, OH), the Nissen Gallery (Warren, OH), the Bottlebrush Gallery (Harmony, PA), the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts (New Castle, PA, the Ellwood City Arts & Crafts Fine Art Show (Ellwood City, PA), the New Wilmington Heritage Fine Arts Show (New Wilmington, PA), the Pittsburgh Area Science Fiction Convention (Confluence) Art Show, the Canfield Fair Fine Art Show(Mahoning County Fair, Ohio), the Buhl Day Art Show (Sharon PA), the Valley Arts Guild (Sharon, PA), the World Fantasy Convention Art Show, Inspired by Nature Show (Villa Maria, PA)many a Northwest PA Arabian Horse Show, and far too many craft shows to list. I taught writers workshops for years in book stores, and I have instructed at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Canfield OH, the Valley Arts Guild, Sharon PA and the Villa Maria Evergreen program, Villa Maria PA.
I was born in Greenville, PA in 1955. I started writing early, scrounging unused diaries and notebooks and writing “books” in them. Illustrated too, because I was drawing even before I was writing.
In the late 1970s, inspired by a couple of wretchedly cold winters in western Pennsylvania, I set out to write fantasy short story in a “Write Your Own Book” I had been given, which had a knight on horseback on its cover. It still does, and it’s still empty because by the time I had finished outlining I could see there was no way The Ring of Allaire was going to fit in there. My novel about a wizard’s first quest was published in 1981. I like to say that my wizard is just like Harry Potter—but Tristan was home-schooled.) I have recently reworked and expanded this trilogy, once known as “The Winter King’s War” into “Wizard’s Destiny”.
The first thing Tristan quested for was the immortal, ageless, magical warhorse Valadan. And since I had dropped some good hints about Valadan’s legendary past, I had a lot to live up to--or some interesting problems to solve making the next books agree with the backstory, as I began to tell of Valadan’s pre-Tristan adventures. And thus came about The Prince of Ill Luck, The Wind-Witch, The True Knight and The Wandering Duke, the rest of “The Warhorse of Esdragon”.
I was invited to pitch a mid-grade book, but the time “wasn’t right for a fantasy mid-grade”, so “Moonshine” became Moonlight, my POD set in Tristan’s early years. My novella Thistledown appeared in Del Rey’s invitational anthology Once Upon A Time, I sold “Herding Instinct” to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and “Where Bestowed” to the Excalibur anthology, and “Butternut Ale”, “Crawls” and “Tasks” to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy—and most of this time, I was working in advertising full time, for a regional discount department store. Now I work full time for a Catholic parish, doing the books and the weekly bulletin. And though it keeps shifting shape, I’m still working on a novel of Arthur, though I don’t style him a king. In 2011, I started exploring e-books, and have several available on both Kindle and Nook. When I expanded into CreateSpace with the Wizard's Destiny trilogy, I discovered that my writers support group and neighborhood contained an amazing book cover designer--Teddi Black. She took my pastel cover paintings and made them the covers of my dreams! tdblack.weebly.com.
Way back, I thought of writing a fantasy as a way to break into illustration. (So I had tons of great reference for my eventual cover paintings!) I did get a couple of things into Niekas and lots to Fantasy Newsletter, and I did maps for all my books—but at the same time I kept up with Fine Art and Fine Craft. I paint with pastels and I weave and hand-spin. My educational background’s in Commercial Art, the fiber arts were learned as I went along.. I have exhibited at the Trumbull Art Guild (Warren, OH), the Nissen Gallery (Warren, OH), the Bottlebrush Gallery (Harmony, PA), the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts (New Castle, PA, the Ellwood City Arts & Crafts Fine Art Show (Ellwood City, PA), the New Wilmington Heritage Fine Arts Show (New Wilmington, PA), the Pittsburgh Area Science Fiction Convention (Confluence) Art Show, the Canfield Fair Fine Art Show(Mahoning County Fair, Ohio), the Buhl Day Art Show (Sharon PA), the Valley Arts Guild (Sharon, PA), the World Fantasy Convention Art Show, Inspired by Nature Show (Villa Maria, PA)many a Northwest PA Arabian Horse Show, and far too many craft shows to list. I taught writers workshops for years in book stores, and I have instructed at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Canfield OH, the Valley Arts Guild, Sharon PA and the Villa Maria Evergreen program, Villa Maria PA.